STUART, Fla. - A lifeguard says he could see several sharks breaking the surface and blood in the water as he approached the victim of an attack off Florida's coast.
Daniel Lund says he was on his lifeguard tower Wednesday afternoon when he spotted Stephen Howard Schafer about a quarter-mile offshore in apparent trouble.
It took Lund 20 minutes to paddle out on a long surfboard, fighting against 6- to 8-foot waves.
As he approached, he said the water was colored with blood while the injured Schafer floated on the large kite he was using to surf across the water.
Lund pulled Schafer onto his board and made it back to shore. He says Schafer was conscious and talking, but he died afterward at a hospital.
It was Florida's first fatal shark attack in five years.
Shark attacks have been on the decline, according to the International Shark Attack File, which is part of the Florida Museum of Natural History.
In 2008, there were 59 attacks worldwide, fewer than the 71 attacks 2007. That continues an annual decline since the all-time high of 79 in 2000.
Forty-one of the 59 attacks worldwide occurred in the United States, with Florida leading with 32.
Surfers accounted for 57 percent of shark attack victims; swimmers and waders, 36 percent, and divers the rest, according to the Shark Attack File.
